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CentralOhio.com

Keisha Tyson of Zanesville uses the range at the Buckeye Firearms Foundation 2014 Free Fun Shoot at Dillon Sportsman Center. The event featured free range time, speakers and more to mark 10 years of concealed carry in Ohio. / Trevor Jones/Times Recorder

What’s next for Ohio’s concealed carry law?

Here is a look at some proposals regarding concealed carry before Ohio’s legislature.

Bill

Sponsor(s)

What would it do?

What’s the status?

HB 8

Rep. Kristina Roegner, R-Cleveland; Rep. Stephanie Kunze, R-Hilliard

Allows school employees approved by the board to carry concealed handguns on school property

The bill passed the House 63-29 in January. It was assigned to a Senate committee.

HB 203

Rep. Terry Johnson, R-Ostrander

Best known as the “stand your ground” bill, it also would prohibit dishonorably discharged members of the military from obtaining a concealed carry license, prohibit illegal immigrants from obtaining a license, reduce the number of hours needed for a competency class from 12 to four, require more evidence that a person with a gun is inducing panic to be charged and reduce the number of offenses that will prohibit an individual from obtaining a concealed handgun license

The bill passed the House 63-27 in November. It was assigned to a Senate committee.

HB 231

Rep. Ron Maag, R-Lebanon

Allows concealed carry at places of worship, day care facilities and insecure government buildings

Assigned to committee; no House vote to date.

HB 387

Rep. Ron Hood, R-Ashville; Matt Lynch, R-Cleveland

Allows individuals to carry concealed without obtaining a license as long as they are not prohibited from having a gun by federal law

Assigned to committee; no House vote to date.

HB 420

Rep. John Becker, R-Cincinnati

Allows individuals with concealed carry licenses to keep their firearms in parking lots, including private ones, if their vehicles are locked

Assigned to committee; no House vote to date.

HB 454

Rep. Anne Gonzales, R-Westerville

Allows individuals with concealed carry licenses to drop off children, documents or other items in school zones as long as handguns are left in the locked vehicle

Assigned to committee; no House vote to date.

SB 165

Sen. Kris Jordan, R-Ostrander

Prohibits a physician from asking their patients about firearm possession or ownership

Assigned to committee; no Senate vote to date.

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When Ohio passed a law allowing people to carry hidden handguns, anti-gun advocates predicted there would be blood in the streets. The bill’s sponsor and gun lobbyists foresaw more than 150,000 people signing up for concealed carry licenses in the first years.

A decade later, neither prophecy came true.

Ohio is not less safe — or considerably more safe — than it was when sheriff’s offices started issuing concealed handgun licenses April 8, 2004. Gun-related deaths have increased over the past decade, largely caused by more suicides, but crime overall has decreased, according to state health department and the FBI’s Crime in the United States records. Research conducted on concealed carry laws’ effects on crime rates nationwide has been mixed.

What has changed is the number of places Ohioans can conceal a handgun legally. Gun advocates call this fixing a convoluted law signed by an anti-gun governor. Those who oppose concealed carry label it as encroaching on the freedoms of Ohioans not wielding clandestine firearms.

“When concealed carry passed, Bob Taft was governor. He had insane rules and restrictions put into the bill,” said Jim Irvine, chairman of the Buckeye Firearms Association.

Those restrictions included a ban on concealed handguns in cars, purses and bags. Renewals were required every four years along with a second competency test. Concealed carry wasn’t allowed in bars or public parking lots, such as the one beneath the Ohio Statehouse. Local governments also could implement their own, more restrictive rules on concealed handgun licenses.

Over the past 10 years, those limitations have been eliminated one by one.

That leaves anti-gun advocates calling Ohio one of the most permissive states in the country when it comes to concealed carry laws. Ohio is one of more than 35 states that require law enforcement officials to issue concealed handgun licenses if applicants meet certain criteria, such as passing a background check, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, an anti-gun organization.

Other states give officials discretion to deny an applicant even if they meet basic requirements; some even require individuals to prove they need a concealed carry license, according to the center. That’s what Toby Hoover, founder of the anti-gun Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, would like to see in Ohio.

“You would have to have a reason to get one — if you are endangered in your job or for personal circumstances, feared for your life. Not just anyone could get one,” Hoover said.

Zone-based laws

Ohio law restricts concealed handgun license holders from having guns in schools, universities, places of worship, county buildings, day care centers and private businesses or private parking lots with signs prohibiting guns. Much of the current proposed legislation focuses on reducing those restricted areas.

“A gun-free zone is a terrible thing,” said Irvine, adding that criminals will target gun-free zones because they know they won’t be stopped by a person with a gun. “Gun control is a poison, and it’s killing our citizens.”

Hoover disagrees, saying these zones give business owners the right to restrict firearm access on their property and other citizens the peace of mind.

Irvine said he doesn’t support carrying concealed weapons in restricted areas, such as prisons, courtrooms and airports, but most spaces should be fair game.

Other off-limit areas just don’t make sense: you can drop your child off at school while carrying a concealed handgun in your vehicle, but if he forgets his lunchbox, driving back into the school zone violates Ohio law. A bill before the General Assembly would change that.

“That’s a pretty important fix there,” Irvine said.

More people concealed carry

As carrying a concealed handgun becomes easier, more people are doing it.

Former Rep. Jim Aslanides, R-Coshocton, who sponsored the 2004 concealed carry law, said he initially thought 150,000 Ohioans would sign up in the first couple years. However, that figure was closer to 68,000, according to counts from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

But the number of new concealed carry permits issued to Ohioans has doubled since 2010. Last year, sheriff’s offices issued 96,972 new concealed handgun licenses — a 50 percent increase from 2012, which also was a record year.

Since 2004, sheriff’s offices have issued more than 458,000 new concealed handgun licenses, according to annual Attorney General’s Office reports. That number represents about 5 percent of the state’s adult population, assuming everyone renewed their licenses and none were revoked.

More than 8,500 licenses have been suspended or revoked over the past decade and another 6,239 applications were denied before they were issued, according to the office’s reports.

“The point is this is a very small part of our adult population wants to do this,” Hoover said. “The other 95 percent has no choice in the matter. We are subject to their decision.”

It might be small, but it’s growing, thanks to highly publicized violence nationwide, anti-gun sentiments from federal officials and more lax laws in Ohio, Irvine said. That surge of participation is encouraging for the law’s sponsor.

“The number is very, very substantial, and we’re very proud of that,” Aslanides said. “Criminals beware.”